House Of Representatives To Probe Stampede At Immigration Recruitment Centers

The House of Representatives has mandated its committees to conduct a public hearing to determine the causes of death of some Nigerians on Saturday at recruitment centres of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

The committees are also to invite all relevant stakeholders to find out the remote and immediate causes of the stampede that took place at the centres and suggest the way forward.

The committees are those of Interior, Labour and Productivity, Public Service Matters and Justice.

The House on Tuesday in Abuja also commiserated with the families of applicants who lost their lives and also resolved that the relatives of victims be identified and offered automatic employment.

It further resolved that all mass recruitment exercises into Federal Government agencies must be done through the internet and in more conducive environment than that of Saturday.

These resolutions followed a motion by Rep. Karimi Sunday (PDP- Kogi) which was adopted when put to vote by the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.

The motion is entitled:” Tragedy at 2014 Immigration Recruitment Exercise in Nigeria as one million Nigerian Youths scramble for 4,500 job placements.”

Sunday, while moving the motion, said that on March 15, many Nigerian youths trooped into all the nation’s state capitals and major cities to participate in the 2014 NIS recruitment exercise.

According to him, about 70,000 youths showed up in Lagos for the test, 20,000 at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan and the 60,000 capacity National Stadium, Abuja was overcrowded with 70, 000 applicants.

“This was the same trend in other state capitals on the said date,” he said.

He said that the “poor” organisation of the exercise resulted in chaos and stampede in all the centres where several persons were reported dead and many injured.

He, therefore, urged the House to condemn the handling of the March 15 NIS recruitment test and the relevant committees of the House should investigate the matter.

In their various contributions to the motion, lawmakers agreed that the NIS incident needed to be investigated.

Rep. Nkoyo Toyo (PDP- Cross- Rivers) said that the Saturday’s incident pointed to a structural problem that could be attributed to the large population of the country.

“I am in support of the call to investigate the matter,” she said.

Reps. Chris Etta (PDP- Cross- Rivers), Razak Bello- Osagie(APC- Edo) described the recruitment tragedy as a show of “shame” and “national disaster” which they said had affected Nigeria’s prestige.

Rep. Abike Dabiri- Erewa(APC- Lagos) said that those saddled with the responsibility of conducting the recruitment must take ” full” responsibility for it.

In his contribution, Rep. Bitrus Kaze (PDP-Plateau) said that the NIS incident showed that the exercise was not properly planned.

He said that the reports in some media that immigration slots were given to members of the National Assembly were false and agreed that the Saturday incident should be investigated.